Last week, Google posted Gemini Mobile App English-language Android users now have access to Gemini Live, giving them the freedom to converse with their Assistant whenever they want. Gemini Live began streaming live for free on select Android phones this week.
In May, Google announced Gemini Live, a conversational AI assistant that lets you pause, have multi-turn conversations, and resume conversations later. Since its release, Gemini Live has only been available to Gemini Advanced users, who required a $20 monthly membership to access it, but it is now available to free users as well.
Additionally, Google Veo is coming to YouTube, introducing dynamic AI backgrounds to Shorts videos.
With this new update, Android users will be able to access Gemini Live completely free of charge. You will no longer need to subscribe to the Gemini One AI premium plan to access it, and downloading the app from the Google Play Store will also be free. There is no Gemini app for iOS, so iOS users cannot join the experience.
This is especially noteworthy because ChatGPT’s equivalent feature, the new voice mode, is currently being rolled out as an alpha to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users, with an increasing number of users joining over time. ChatGPT Plus also has a $20 monthly subscription, and even if you pay, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be one of the users who gets access to voice mode right away.
Eventually, both Gemini Live and OpenAI’s Voice Mode will be able to use a phone’s camera to tell the voice assistant what’s around the user and inform responses, though neither company has given a firm date for when the visual component of the feature will launch.
Also, is the photo real or an AI? Google’s “About this image” aims to help you tell the difference
To check if you have access to Gemini Live, make sure your Gemini app is updated, then open the app as you normally would. If you see a waveform icon in the bottom left of the app screen, that means you have access to Gemini Live. Click on it to see a walkthrough of how to use the feature.
If you’re an Apple user feeling a bit of FOMO, fear not: In May, Apple announced Apple Intelligence, a collection of AI features built into the experience on Apple devices, and one of the new features is a smarter Siri.
Apple Intelligence will be part of iOS 18.1, which will be released in October. However, only users with the A17 or later chip, which is found in all iPhone 15 Pro models and newer, will be able to fully experience Apple Intelligence. Some of the new Apple Intelligence features will be released in October, while others will be released at a later date.
